Should sports affect gas prices?

Okay, let me preface this by saying I'm drunk. Yes it's only 7:41 ET but it's my day off and I've been thinking about this a lot lately.

Think about it. Sports (although we make our livings off them) are not absolute. Should sports at every level (high school, college and pro) consider toning down their schedules to accomadate the rising gas prices?

Think about all the high school tournaments that teams travel state to state for. The non-league college games in Alaska and Hawaii. All of the cross-country flights in the pros. I'm not even including the miles that the AAU teams travel.

Now I'm a big fan of sports (obviously). In high school they keep kids off the streets and in a lot of cases make the kids keep their grades up enough to play. In college they open the door to the pros to make a ton of cash, or at the very least provide elite athletes a way to get education and become very productive members of society.

So, even if I haven't phrased this as best I could, should sports on all levels revise their skeds to save gas?

 

Re: Should sports effect gas prices?

Pssst...I think you mean affect.

And no. I can watch all the games i want to see on TV without using fuel at all.

 

Re: Should sports effect gas prices?

On the high school level, schools around here are altering their schedules. Track teams are holding more tri- and quad-meets. If there's even a hint of rain, they'll postpone the game instead of driving to the site, having the game rained out, then having to return.

 

Re: Should sports effect gas prices?

In the mid-1970s, as a result of the first gas crisis (when prices shot from 30c a gallon to 80-90c a gallon), many of the high school leagues in our area realigned on strictly geographical bases. There were schools 5 miles apart, in the same enrollment class, who never played each other, while each making 200-mile round trips to play league games.

Since then, a lot of these strictly geographical leagues have realigned again, forming mega-leagues with divisions selected on a "competitive" basis, and once again they're ending up with 60-80 mile trips for league games sometimes.

 

I'm glad someone had faith in me. I actually stared at the screen for a while debating effect and affect. As I debated awhile and a while -- this is after a bottle of wine and several mimosas.

I'm also glad to see that some schools, on the high school level at least, are making some strides. As much as I love covering sports (even though it's my second job now) they don't absolutely have to be there.

I remember being a junior in high school when all of our after school programs were being cut -- except for sports and I questioned it. Nearly 12 years later the same budget went down and I still question it.

 

I'll cut slack if you make me a mimosa!

 

Honestly, I don't see it making that much of an impact. The gas used by one team to get to a basketball game, etc, is a drop compared to what they'd use on a daily basis with all their buses.

 

I think at the preps level, the first travel that gets cut will be for the junior varsity and freshman teams. Varsity teams will be immune when it comes to conference trips, obviously, but I can see some of those long-distance nonconference trips getting cut.

As for the youth sports, like ASA softball, etc., those teams will still travel all summer. Those parents will drive themselves into bankruptcy before they give up those summer tournament trips.

 

The sport I've always been curious about is racing. As in people driving really fast in circles, wasting gas. Any chance nascar or indy car races get shortened or changed?

 

If I'm not mistaken, it's not the same mix we use in our cars, or am I just nuts on that?

 

they should all drive priuses